When Friends Become Lovers
by Ireland23
Summary: About a year after an illicit night spent with her best friend he comes knocking at Tea's door. Things have changed; he wants to make up for what he's done to her. Things aren't always what they seem though. Surprising twist at the end! Enjoy:
1. Chapter 1

**This takes place about a year after their high school graduation. As with most of my work, this doesn't really follow any of the episodes.**

_**Tea's Point of View.**_

_**Chapter One**_

I was dancing around as some of my favorite tunes played softly and I searched my outdated refrigerator for something sweet. I jerked my head to look behind me when I heard a knock at my front door. I wrinkled my nose and set the cup of pudding in my hand down on the counter and walked toward the door. I didn't have any family anymore, and all of my friends were away at college. _**Who in the hell could that be?**_

"Who is it?" I called, pressing against the door, waiting for a response. I didn't live in a good neighborhood and a girl couldn't take any chances.

"Tea, it's me." My stomach lurched at the sound of Tony's soft voice. He didn't sound the same at all. The arrogant and emotionally indifferent tone he'd mastered in high school was gone and replaced with one of what sounded like complete anguish.

I panicked. I couldn't let him in. Not after what happened between us. After everything I'd been through when he'd up and left for school without so much as a word.

"What do you want?" I tried to keep my voice distant from the emotions swirling inside me. He'd always been the only one who could make me feel…anything.

"Please just open the door. I _need_ to see you." His plea sounded strained, as if he wanted to scream or cry.

I felt as if a fist was squeezing around my heart as I went against my better judgment and opened the door slowly. I heard his intake of breath, but I couldn't manage to look him in the eyes. Instead, I focused my gazed on the floor between us.

Finally, he said, "I didn't really think through what I was going to say when I got here" he sighed and the continued. "Please just look at me." When I didn't oblige he reached out and lightly touched my hand. "_Please."_

My eyes shot up to meet his at the unexpected touch. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked as if he were in pain. "Are you alright?" I pulled my hand away from his, and crossed my arms over my chest.

"No" He shook his head and gestured toward my new stance. "You can't even bare to let me touch you." He rubbed his hand over his tired looking face. "God, I've fucked up so bad."

I didn't respond to his comment other then to ask, "How did you find me?"

"I threatened to camp out on your sister's front lawn until she told me." He gave a sheepish smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I just needed to say I'm sorry. So God damned sorry." He started to reach for my hand again, but thought better of it and let his hand drop between us.

"It's over, it's done. We've both moved on." I tried to sound as nonchalant as I possibly could, but my voice quivered as I spoke.

"I can't" He stepped closer to me. "The entire time I've been away I've done nothing but think about that night and how it should have been different." His eyes were either glassy from being overtired or he was near tears.

"I'm sorry that you regret it, but we can't take it back." I stepped back a smidge inside the doorframe.

He rushed forward, bracing himself against the frame; he looked so tormented that I felt that imaginary fist clench my heart again. "The only thing I regret Tea is how I acted afterward. I know it didn't mean anything to you, and I tried to pretend it didn't to me either, but I can't anymore." This time he reached out and touched my face and I didn't pull away. I hadn't been touched in a year, and none's touch ever felt as good as Tony's.

"You think fucking you meant nothing to me?" I pulled back, my eyes burning into his. It had meant _everything_ to me. I'd tried everything when I began having feelings for Tony, even hooking up with random girls, to get my mind of him. Then one night we'd ended up in a tangled mass of limbs, sated from exertion. I hadn't expected him to dump Michelle and profess his undying love to me just because we had sex, but I didn't expect him to never speak to me again either.

"You're a lesbian and we were fucked up…" His voice cracked with emotion. "And I…I…pushed you." He took a deep breath. I was taken aback. He actually thought I didn't want him that night?

"You didn't push anything Tony." I still tried to keep my voice even. "It took both of us that night, not just you. Just so you know, I wasn't expecting anything from you, except for friendship." I didn't have to tell him that he'd failed me as a friend; I could see it in his eyes that he already knew. He's been my closest friend, the only one I confided in and he'd left me.

I heard him expel the pent up breath in his lungs and he reached out, cupping my hip in his hand. "Can I come in and talk to you for a few minutes?" I flinched at the contact of his rough thumb sliding across my sensitive hip bone. "After that I'll leave you alone, you won't have to ever see me again if you don't want to." When I didn't answer, his tone softened even more. "Just five minutes Tea."

I turned in the doorway, looking down the hall of my apartment, and bit my lower lip. I couldn't let him in. It would be a disaster. There were certain things that were better left undiscovered. My eyes darted back to meet his again and I couldn't find the words to tell him to leave.

"Is someone else here?" He looked around me, and tried to see into my small apartment as I stammered for a response.

"Yes" I didn't lie. "Anthony is sleeping." I silently patted myself on the back for my quick response. I knew exactly what he would think.

"You have a boyfriend?" His face was turning red. Was he actually angry? _**Why the FUCK would you care?**_

Just as I was about to answer, Anthony began crying loudly from his nursery where I'd laid him down moments before Tony had arrived.

_**Okay, so it's like 1:30 in the morning here and I wrote this in about twenty minutes, so I apologize if there are any glaring typos. The story was bouncing around in my head and I had to put it on paper before it would let me rest. Haha. I'm thinking this will be a two or three shot. One of the chapters will have Lemons, so be warned.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning: This one is angsty**

**Tony's Point of view**

I watched dumbly as Tea held a crying baby to her chest. She bounced from side to side, shushing the dark curly headed baby in a soothing tone. I couldn't even begin to fathom what the fucking hell was going on. She'd never let a guy near her. Until that night at Chris' party when we'd drunkenly stumbled into an empty bedroom. _**When I left she was a lesbian and now she has a baby, what the fucking fuck?**_

I glanced around the sky blue room and noticed the ceramic letter's nailed on the wall behind the wooden crib that spelled the name Anthony. My heart swelled in my chest as I watched her lay him down atop the fluffy blue blanket. As she straightened her spine and turned to face me I had the most intense need to just haul her against me and crash my lips against hers.

"I guess we should probably talk, huh?" She didn't meet my eyes as she spoke, but at least she was talking to me. She brushed passed me and walked into the narrow hallway.

"Is he mine?" I finally asked when we reached the living room. I had to know. I couldn't even begin to sort my emotions. I wasn't expecting to be a father and the thought scared the hell out of me. But as I waited with baited breath for her answer I knew that my soul would shatter if she answered in the negative.

"What do you think _Anthony_?" She stressed my full name and I let the air out of my lungs. She sounded slightly less emotionless and I could see her hands shaking as kept her back toward me. "He's three months old, in case you care."

"Oh Tay." I didn't know what to say, but I knew that I needed to touch her. And that's exactly what I did. In just a few ground eating strides I was pulling her back against me. Her back nestling more perfectly against my chest than I could have imagined. "Why didn't you…"

Before I could finish my question she wrenched out my grasp and I felt absolutely empty inside. God, I had missed her. "Why didn't _I_ tell _you_ that the night we fucked resulted in a child?" She was furious. Absolutely furious. Furiously gorgeous. "Sorry that I thought that the fact that you _left_ for school and never returned my text message or attempted to contact me meant that you regretted it." She ended her rant in a huff and my stomach coiled in disgust for what I'd done. I was truly a horrible person.

"I would never regret being with you Tea" I stepped forward to touch her, but she waved her hand at me, brushing tears off of the apples of her cheeks. "Please just let me explain." I felt my eyes watering and she sat down on the old worn out sofa.

"I don't want to hear it Tony." She took a ragged breath and her gaze was cast downward and she focused on her shaking hands. I knew I didn't deserve to ever see her again, let alone gain her forgiveness.

But I had to try.

I walked over to stand in front of her and knelt down. I wrapped her hands in mine and made my plea as heartfelt as I possibly could. "I can't even begin to explain what a mess I've made." I felt her fingers tense beneath mine and I realized how she took what I said. "No no no" I leaned forward and pressed my face against the warm skin of her thigh. I always loved the thin cotton sundresses she wore. "I shouldn't have left. _That_ was my mistake. Such a huge fucking mistake." She didn't shove me away from her, but she didn't offer any affection either. I couldn't blame her. She should have told me to go to hell.

Minutes passed, but the felt like excruciating hours before she finally spoke. Her voice was quiet, almost childlike. "Why _did _you leave?"

"I was scared." I lifted my head to stare into her deep brown eyes. She made an unintelligible noise of disbelief. I was Tony, _TonyTheMotherFuckingMan_. I wasn't allowed to be afraid of anything. "You don't understand Tea. That night I felt something. I felt _everything_ and it scared the fucking hell out of me." I gulped for breath and a tear rolled down my cheek. I didn't care if I seemed. I'd been miserable for an entire year without her.

"You felt something so you disappeared?" I felt sick when I saw the anguish etched in her expression.

I nodded, my hands gripping her thighs, I needed to touch her. I needed to make sure she was tangible, she wasn't going to disappear. "Did you mean what you said? I didn't take advantage of you that night?"

She laughed harshly, but she wouldn't meet my gaze. "You should know me better than that. Do you really think I would have done that if I didn't want to?" She finally looked at me and I couldn't bare the hurt that reflected back to me.

"I thought you were high and you were going to hate me." I moved up to sit beside her, my hand slid further up the silken skin of her warm thigh. I'd been with my fair share of girls, but none had ever made me feel a fraction of what this girl sitting beside me had made me feel. "I tried to stay away. To forget about it. To forget about you." My hand moved from her firm thigh to her taut stomach. Even through the material of her dress I could feel the warmth of her tanned skin. "There wasn't a minute that went by that you didn't invade my every thought." Her eyes watered again and she didn't pull away from me.

"My God." I moved my hand carefully over her flat stomach. "I don't see how you could have had a baby in there. You're so tiny." The thought of her slender body carrying a baby made me feel like even more of a low life for not having been there for her.

"Well I definitely did." Her sarcasm wasn't lost on me and I also knew that meant she wasn't as mad as she had been a few minutes before.

"Why are you living here?" I gestured to the rundown apartment. When I'd gone to her parents' house her sister hadn't given me any information other than her address.

Her face contorted in pain that her tough façade couldn't mask." My parents, well my whole family, disowned me because I decided to keep Anthony." It was _my_ fault she was living here. I'd gotten her pregnant and left her to fend for herself. "I wasn't going to at first" Her lip quivered as she was obviously remembering something that caused her great pain. "How good of a fucking mom does that make me? I was actually going to give him up for adoption." My stomach jerked in anguish. The thought of her giving our baby away had a jolt of fear searing through my stomach.

"Was anyone even with you when you had him?" I couldn't imagine how scared and alone she must have been.

"No. Just the nurse. She held my hand." She curled her lip up as if she were trying not to cry. "I had to have a c-section because I was too small to have him naturally."

I pulled her against me so she could rest her head against my chest as she cried softly. "Why did you keep him?" I had to know.

"He has your eyes." She didn't elaborate and that was all it took for the tears to flow freely down my face as I held her against me. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you." She seemed sincere and that just wrenched my heart even more. She had nothing to feel guilty for.

"Baby, no." I kissed the top of her head, wanting to feel her closer; I wanted to feel every inch of her. I'd ached for her for a year, and here she was in my arms. "It's my fault. All my fault. I should have been here for you."

She looked up at me and I felt my breath stall in my chest. She was beautiful. I wanted to devour her lips, feel every contour of her body.

But this is what I did. I pressed a soft kiss to her lips and sent a silent prayer when she didn't slap me or pull away. "Can I hold him?" She nodded slowly and we both stood. I shadowed her closely and I felt my whole body shake when she put Anthony in my arms. He was the perfect mixture of the two of us. She was right, he did have my eyes and I took credit for the curly mass atop his head, but he had her nose and cheeks.

"I won't keep him from you." She said softly. "You can come visit him whenever you want." I looked up from the soundly sleeping baby to give her a look of confusion. What did she mean _visit_ him? I planned on being with them both all the time.

"I'm not leaving him" I gently laid him back down in his bed, tucking his Teddy bear close behind him. I looked over at her and noticed her shocked expression. Did she honestly think that I would abandon our baby? Or her for that matter? And then it hit me. She _did_ think I would abandon them. Because I'd already left her once. I moved forward in a swift motion and pressed my forehead against hers, my eyes boring into hers. "I'm not leaving _**you**_. I _can't _leave you."

"You don't have to stay because of Anthony. I work two jobs and he doesn't want for anything." She moved backward and my steps were in sync with hers, our foreheads never parting. Her back was pressed against the door frame and I groaned as I stepped closer. Her thighs involuntary parted and I slipped my leg between hers, her soft tits were pressed against my hard chest and I reveled in the feeling. "Ms White, across the hall watches him while I'm at work." She could barely get her words out and I knew she felt what I was feeling. She was still attracted to me. She still _wanted_ me.

"If there was no Anthony I still wouldn't leave you." My breathing was labored. "I came here tonight for _you_ Tea." I linked the fingers of one of my hands through hers and held them above her head against the wooden frame. "I tried for a year, but I can't make it without you. I felt just a fraction of what it was like to be with you and I can't go another minute without feeling that again."

"I trusted you once, why should I trust you again?" The raw vulnerably in her voice gripped at my heart. I leaned down and pressed a series of kisses on the sweet spot of her shoulder.

"Because we match each other. No one else can do that for either one of us." I spoke the truth. I could feel her need and it matched my own. My lips were a whisper away from hers, and when I felt her free hand snake around my neck and pull me into her I knew she agreed.

I felt her sigh against my lips and I gripped her ass, lifting her up to wrap her legs around me.

"Let's go to my bedroom, Tony."

**I apologize for all the angst. I'm not sure that this chapter turned out exactly the way I had originally planned, but it's 2:00 a.m. and I can't stare at it anymore. Haha I'm thinking I'll follow this up with a Lemony chapter, unless it's better to end it here and leave it up to the reader's imagination. I hope you guys enjoyed!**


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